Johanna Rees

The idea of pairing rock bands with symphony orchestras has a long history and brings to mind such iconic collaborations as the London Philharmonic playing the Who's "Tommy" or Oasis' "Wonderwall." In most cases, stately orchestras reach out to touch pop through the music of megastars such as the Beatles or Elton John. The Los Angeles Philharmonic, however, has taken a different approach to collaboration, and it will revisit indie ground Saturday when it invites the Brooklyn-based experimental group Dirty Projectors to Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The pairings are improbable: a blue-eye soul crooner and a Malian blues guitarist; British electro maestros and a Syrian wedding singer. But in the KCRW World Festival series at the Hollywood Bowl, anything is possible. Now in its 13th year, the series showcases big names in international music alongside upstarts from across the planet. This season embarked on its cross-cultural journey last week with jammy bluesman Ben Harper alongside L.A. soul throwback act Fitz and the Tantrums, and Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Toure.

David Longstreth is pretty sure he knows why people have been surprised by the infectious, often beautiful new record from his experimental rock outfit, Dirty Projectors. "Maybe it's because I once made a concept album about Don Henley," he says, referring to 2005's "The Getty Address. " "Or because I made one where I reimagined a Black Flag album from memory. " That would be 2007's "Rise Above," which features the singer-guitarist's very loose interpretation of "Damaged" by the Hermosa Beach hard-core band.

On weeknights, as Jason Bentley sits in KCRW's basement studios, building a city of the mind out of music, he often gets feedback from listeners tuning in around Southern California and across the globe. Some are artists engaged in their own solitary labors. Others are weary night-shift workers and jazzed-up club kids, floating down the freeways on a river of sound.

Last year, when Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles was invited to open for the reggae-hip-hop- salsa-punk-funk mash-up mavens Ozomatli at the Nokia Theatre, the group wondered how on earth such a concert might be billed. "At first I was, like, 'Really?'" recalled Julissa Murillo, a violinist with the neo-traditional, all-female mariachi group. "Nobody has ever tried anything like that, and I didn't know how they were going to categorize it. " "Categories be damned!"

Adele can't contain herself. Nothing new there. The hot young British soul singer is, by her own account, "pretty mouthy." But learning that she will share the bill with her idol, Etta James, at the Hollywood Bowl next Sunday has sent her over the moon. "It blew my mind," she gushes on the phone from London. "She's the reason I started. The first time I heard her voice, it sucked me in. Made me believe, and made me cry."

Living in Los Angeles, one of the early joys of summer is running down the schedule at the Hollywood Bowl. Probably the most famed venue on the West Coast, the Bowl's sprawling, woodsy confines and nearly 18,000-person capacity can transform mere concerts into events and bleacher-mates into neighbors during performances that can feel like a summer block party in a city that has its share of challenges in fostering a consistent feeling of community....

CARVED into the side of a canyon, the Hollywood Bowl has the majestic permanence of a geological formation. Yet as the Bowl officially starts its 87th season Friday, musical change is afoot. The opening night gala features a new principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins, leading a lineup that includes flutist Sir James Galway, singer Liza Minnelli and bluesman B.B. King. In July, Bramwell Tovey begins his tenure as the L.A.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Composer and French horn player Matt Marks, 33, has just completed writing a vocal and orchestral work for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the biggest commission of his life, but this Sunday afternoon in March he's playing the ukulele at the New Music Bake Sale. Marks has trim sideburns and a bowl of black hair with straight bangs above thick black glasses. Wearing a plaid sports jacket and an ironic grin, he is on stage at Roulette, a club in an elegant old Art Deco theater in a building owned by the YWCA, where USO dances were once the ticket.

DANNY HO can't believe what he's seeing outside of the Key Club on a busy Saturday night. "A Russian rapper is playing here tonight?" the 23-year-old asks incredulously of the doorman behind the velvet rope. When informed tickets start at $60, he scoffs: "Even if Eminem was playing tonight, I would never pay $60! If there are more than 100 people in there, I'd be shocked."